Yu-Gi-Oh! Invasion of the Clear Brigade - Arc 1: Hunt for the "Numbers" [IC: Started/Currently Accepting]

[evilfusion]

Natalie deactivated her Disk as the holograms faded away, extracting her cards from their slots and returning them to the whole deck. Her last card had been Fiendish Chain, which she planned initially to deactivate her Number 30's effect if Kai had simply ended his turn, or had used Galaxy-Eyes to remove Acid Golem. It briefly occurred to her that she could have just used both Mirror Wall and Burning Fighting Spirit at once to win the duel immediately when Number 17 attacked, but she supposed that it didn't really matter now.

She stepped forward, her eyes shining with triumph although her smirk had faded away. "You are an interesting duelist, Kai, I'll give you that," she said softly. Her eyes focused upon the black bordered monster card that lay on the ground near its former owner, ready to serve a new master. Without hesitation, she reached over and picked it up, without even trying to be subtle, as if it was her card all along. The card felt slightly warm in her hands, confirming to her that it had indeed accepted the duel as valid.

She inhaled deeply, and turned to go. "Oh, look at the time, we went on longer than expected. I do hope you don't have to catch a bus."

[Astolfo]

Kuroi jerked backed in surprise, his lightning-blue eye fading back to black, since the duel was over. The female had won, even against Galaxy-Eyes and her own monster's curse! The female was a good duelist, he'd admit that. He hoped she wouldn't be too much of a challenge later. Just before Natalie left, he asked "I'm a Numbers Hunter too. You want to team up?" He waited impassively for her response. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the defeated duelist, but he was no matter now. He had lost his Numbers and he didn't seem like a Hunter anyway. He turned back to Natalie. "Team?"

[Agro]

Souta scowled as Natalie walked off from the duel. He'd known Natalie to be extremely stuck up in her duels before, but she'd taken this duel to a whole other level; against a newbie no less. Knowing some of the results from duels she'd taken less seriously, Souta ran over to Kai. "You alright little guy?" Souta looked analyzingly at Kai, and seeing he'd be okay, he turned to call Natalie out on her overaggressiveness behavior, but he never got the chance.

When he turned to look at Natalie, he didn't see her glowing in her victory or smirking wildly at her opponent's ineptitude. No, it was worse than that. She was picking a card off the ground, and that card was Kai's Number 17 Leviathan Dragon. He paused for a moment in hesitation as Natalie addressed the other two, noting that they must have to catch their bus.

As she began to walk away, Souta called after her, "Natalie, what are you doing?" But Souta's words were lost on her as she continued. Souta might have even let her get off this time, if she hadn't been stopped by a new boy who confronted her as she retreated.

With his fist clenched and his back arched, Souta marched towards Natalie, completely oblivious to whatever it was the new boy said to her. "Natalie! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Souta was furious, and he tried his best to project his voice so Setsuna, Kenta, and especially, Kai, could here him. "I saw you take Kai's Leviathan Dragon, what do you think you're doing?"

[Simping For Hina]

Coming out of nowhere, not knowing where he was going, accidentally bumped into Souta by accident. "Uh. Sorry about that, didn't know you were there." Kyokari said in a apologetic tone. [i]"My god, why can't these...Leviathan Dragon? Isn't that number 19?"[/i] He got back in straight alignment and great posture. Waiting for a response from Souta for no reason, he just stood there with his arm behind his head and his eyes shut. A beep comes out of his ear that only he could hear at the time. The beep was from the HQs. He then put his right hand to his ear, and set it to silent, but it looked like he was just scratching his ear.

[Dementuo]

Kai looked over to Natalie for a moment, then back to his deck. He quickly shuffled through the cards, realizing that, indeed, Souta was right. Leviathan Dragon wasn't there. He turned back to Natalie. "Hey, wait a second! You can't just take my cards like that!" He called out. Kai gave his brother a quick glance. "Go on without me, Kenta. You shouldn't have to walk home because of me." He said quickly, before turning back to his thieving opponent. "Now come on, give me back my Xyz card. It isn't yours to take!" Kai argued, a slight frustration arising in him.

[Simping For Hina]

"So this person took the one interrupting's card? Now, who is the one helping or annoying this girl?" Kyokari said, wondering about what is going on. This girl is clearly a numbers hunter, so why isn't this Kai person's soul taken away? Kyokari thought for this for a few moments. "Excuse me, the person that just interrupted. I believe that this "Natalie" girl has a right to take these Xyz cards. I think she is a card or numbers hunter after all, but you probably do not know what that is. Anyways, go on and leave her alone.

[evilfusion]

Kuroi's first comment certainly caught Natalie's attention, and her eyes flicked over him, taking in as many of his physical features as possible, as if trying to memorize him. Another Number wielder so soon? And to think, just this morning she had been out of leads. However, to so boldly declare oneself as a Number Hunter was risky business, and he had to know that. There had been enough spectators to see her and Kai both playing a Number, and any number of the onlookers could secretly possess a Number of their own. A Number Hunter seemed to be the accepted term for a person intent on finding and collecting as many Numbers are possible, and if he was labeling her (correctly) as a Hunter, he must know that she could just as easily fight him for his Numbers.

But no, he seemed to be proposing a mutual arrangement. She was about to answer when she heard the protests from Souta and Kai, as the former had seen her take the losing Number, and Kai had suddenly become aware of it. That puzzled her briefly, as she hadn't exactly been SUBTLE about picking the card up.

She swiveled, brushing one of her black curls from her face, her expression passive.

"Yes, I did take it," she mused, turning the card around in her fingers to show Souta. "Do you have any idea what this card is?" she asked, barely above a whisper. Her gaze flicked to Kai, ignoring his indignant expression. "Do you?"

She chuckled humorlessly. "Of course you don't. If you had a Number, you'd understand, Souta. These are not ordinary cards." Her eyes glinted with light amusement. "Let me share with you my studies. When two duelists wielding Numbers duel, the winner takes the loser's Numbers. This seems to be an unspoken rule, and the cards themselves enforce it."

With a casual flick of her fingers, two more cards fanned out behind Number 17. The foremost card was the familiar golem monster, Number 30. The other was partially obscured, but the art depicted an insect monster of some kind, with the text reading 'No. 20'

"You might say I'm a collector," Natalie continued quietly. "When I defeat you, your Numbers become mine. If you disagree, Kai, that's simply too bad. Number 17 was rightfully won, whether you knew it or not."

[Simping For Hina]

A collector is what Natalie referred to herself as and she obviously knew the ideas and abilities behind the numbers, so she was obviously a hunter. He let the slide off of his mind for a moment or two as the real business he needed to attend to was what she said after that on how she would share her research with him and/or why she would do so when she might know what could happen if she did.

"Look. Don't share any information with them on the numbers just yet, don't get them mixed up in this business. And just so you know, I have no numbers of myself, so you have no need to duel me." Kyokari said so easily has if he had no trouble in doing so. But he had no point into giving Natalie anymore information than that because he did not want to get involve with what his lower rankings could easily do themselves.

He stared at Natalie for a sometime, then walked off out of sight, near a corner of a building so that he could call back his HQ. When he reached the corner, he made sure no one was following him. He tapped his ear piece and called HQ really quickly. "Hello. Number 17 found. It is held by a Numbers Hunter so she probably holds more of them too. All I know is that her name is Natalie." he answered into his ear piece and pressed it off.

[Dementuo]

"What!" Kai said. "That's-" He began, though bs didn't finish. A strange feeling overcame him, and he closed his eyes briefly.

Kai found himself in front of an extremely large, metal door, covered in various chains. The door looked to have a face on it, and Kai could here a deep, bellowing voice around him. [b]"Those who open the door will gain new power, but will lose something most precious."[/b] the voice spoke. Kai took a step back on a thin and narrow rock path, staring up at it. [i]"...This is just like before... When Leviathan came to me... But this time..."[/i] Kai reached into his pocket. Nothing. [i]"The Emperor's Key isn't with me, Kenta has it..."[/i] He thought, taking his hand back out. The voice spoke again. [b]"Will you accept?"[/b] it asked him. Kai shook his head. "No. I'll find my own way, to take back what I lost." Kai shouted defiantly. There was a pause. The ground began crumbling out from under Kai, and he fell into darkness.

Kai opened his eyes, only a second having passed. He looked at Natalie. "...Hmph. One day, we'll duel again. Until then..." He began again, turning to walk over to Kenta. "...Don't lose Leviathan. I'd rather take it back from you." He finished, a look of frustration still on his face. "Come on, Kenta. There's nothing more we can do here." He said, beckoning his brother to follow. [i]"Her name is Natalie, I overheard... I guess I'll have to get another Numbers to fight against her, next time."[/i] Kai thought.

[Zextra]

Kenta nodded as he glanced back at his Duel Disk. It read 13:47 - "[i]Kai, we have to hurry; Our subway's going to be here in less than fifteen minutes[/i]" he reported as he turned towards Kai. With that, the two of them (slight godmod here - I apologize) hurried away from the scene. Once they were a far enough distance away that nobody remained around them, Kenta said, "[i]Sorry about your Leviathan Dragon, Kai[/i]". While he spoke, he slipped out a black-framed card from his deck holster. "[i]Take it if you need to - I'm sure you need it more than I do right now[/i]" he continued, looking Kai straight in the eye.

[evilfusion]

[i]What was that guy babbling about?[/i] Natalie wondered to herself, regarding Kyokari. [i]He knows about Numbers, yet claims not to have any. Hmm...[/i]

However, she still had Souta and Kai in the vicinity, and decided not to voice her thoughts aloud. She gave a tiny smirk at Kai's statement. "Best of luck, little man," she said with a tiny smirk. In the unlikely incident he did manage to find another Number in order to face her, she would likely have added new Numbers to her collection, and be more than prepared to rematch the Photon deck.

She watched the two brothers leave without further comment. The near-failure with Number 30 was sign enough that she had to double her studies into the Numbers before throwing them around like that, lest she lose the Numbers to someone more prepared, or just lucky. She shot a sideways glance at Souta, replacing her Numbers into her Extra Deck box.

"Anything else?" she challenged softly.

[Simping For Hina]

He appeared once again out of nowhere, this time right behind Natalie directly when she said, "Anything Else." He did not know how to respond to such a simple question just yet, he had to think it over until he came upon the perfect way to reply to it without giving away anymore information than he already had. He did not know how to do so for about a good minute or two, so he stood there in silence, perfectly still. He did nothing again, then finally came upon the perfect idea and response for the question that Natalie asked. He took a deep breath before even making a normal voice pitch sound.

"Uh Yeah, I have something else to say, but it is nothing wrong or abnormal. It is just a simple question if you do not mind me asking." he said in a normal pace, not trying to be in a rush, but also trying to skip around the actual details and main idea of this question. "I was simply wondering, are there any other numbers you have been hunting and that are in your possession right now?"

He let that out with a huff and knew that Natalie would be wondering why Kyokari asked such a weird question.

[Dementuo]

Kai glanced back at Kenta. "No, you hang on to it. I'll need someone to practice against, won't I?" Kai chuckled. He looked back forward. "But anyways, we have some searching to do. That girl, Natalie, I think she was called... She had two Numbers of her own, and now she has mine. That means that there's bound to be others around this city... Somewhere. All I have to do is find someone who has one..." Kai continued, slipping a card from his deck. "...And take it from them." Kai sighed. "I just hope I can do that without a Numbers myself, and without losing any other cards..." He said, looking at the card. "Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon... He's my only way of fighting now." Kai said. He put Galaxy-Eyes away. "Alright, Kenta. We'll have to duel later, so I can get more used to fighting the Numbers."

[evilfusion]

Natalie's eye twitched slightly. "You..." she said, turning to Kyokari. "I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to him," she said, jerking a thumb at Souta. "I don't even know who you ARE, so why are you dancing around me and talking to me as if you were ever a part of our conversations?"

Really, the nerve of this strange individual was starting to irk her. As far as she could tell, he was a literal stranger within their school grounds babbling about Numbers and making comments that made next to no sense, even from the perspective of someone who did know about Numbers.

She chose to ignore his question. For someone who had been lingering around when she showed Kai and Souta that she possessed 3 Numbers, he somehow completely missed the fact that yes, she had hunted more than 1 Number and had them in her possession.

[Agro]

Souta cringed, he couldn't do anything to stop Natalie, especially not with Kai and Kenta already gone. "Be that way, then." Souta turned away from her an began a slow walk away. "But, Natalie," Souta had stopped in his tracks to address her one last time, turning his head slightly to the side to put her in the corner of his eyes. "Don't for one second think I'm letting this go. You just took someone's card. Number or not. I'll MAKE you give that card back. Whether the card "wills" it or not." Continuing on, he motioned to Setsuna. "C'mon man, let's get outta here." Souta gave a chancing glare at the other two boys that had interrupted the argument. "I'm not liking this crowd." And with that, Souta stormed off.

[Simping For Hina]

As knowing that she contained more than just 1 since she did win against 17. He had no need into knowing anything more than just that for the time being. In order to know more over time though, he had to either become a stalker and follow he around or get one of his subordinates to duel her. Which, it was the second choice that he was going to go with because he knew that wasting his time was something that couldn't be done. He needed to get away and head back to the HQ in order to get someone to duel her as quickly as possible. And their was only one person in this school that he was working with. That was the person he was going to get to duel her. And he knew that that person would win in this situation.

Since he did not want to bother Natalie anymore about anything and if he were to hold this up for sometime, he would have to give information about where or what faction he worked for. He left in a slow pace showing nothing but complete boredom with this person. He left as quickly as possible and walked in the opposite direction of the school.

[evilfusion]

Natalie gave a slight scoff at Souta's reaction. So he wasn't thrilled about her taking a Number from the loser of a duel. She didn't need his approval to hunt Numbers. He was an acquaintance, a rival at best, but not really worth losing sleep over his anger. The only way he'd be able to force her to surrender the card was if he had a Number of his own, and by some miracle managed to defeat her.

The strange man had suddenly wandered off again, and Natalie shrugged that off as well. She glanced at Kuroi, as if just remembering his existence. "You want a team-up?" she asked sardonically. "How many Numbers do you actually have, 'Hunter'? If less than 2, you're wasting my time for now, and should come back when you have more."

[Zextra]

Kenta smiled as he placed the card back where it came. "[i]So be it[/i]" Kenta replied as the two of them arrived at the subway station - a big domed building made of mostly glass, with a pass protruding from its front door. Kenta hurried on ahead, walking into the pass until he reached the glass doors, which slid open, revealing a massive deluge of escalators - many which led both upwards and downwards,, which led to the platform levels. Several holographic screens flashed around them, one which read "[i]Train to Heartland Villas now approaching[/i]". Kenta quickly called out to Kai, "[i]If we don't hurry up, we'll miss it![/i]". He proceeded to sprint down the escalator to the underground platform - as the doors were preparing to shut, Kenta jumped off the railing of the escalator and whipped off his backpack; He quickly thought about the timing and placing of the maneuver he was about to pull before he pitched it towards the doors of the train, which started to close. Just as the doors were closing, Kenta's backpack obstructed them in midair, wedging itself right in between the doors, which, upon sensing the backpack's presence, immediately sprung open, allowing for him to slide into the train. He quickly glanced out to make sure Kai was close.

[Astolfo]

Kuroi smiled, and his left eye turned lightning-blue and a shadow extended out from his arm forming a evil-looking Duel Disk. He was careful to hide the view from other unwelcome eyes. "I have 2 Numbers, and although you spoiled my plan of owning a third, I shall let it slide. Oh, do you own a Chaos Number? I own Numbers 13 and its Chaos version, 'Darkness' and 'Overwhelming Darkness' respectively." He drew two cards, emanating a black aura from his Duel Disk's Extra Deck. He flicked them out, allowing the female Hunter to see both. Kuroi didn't exhibit any of the possession of Numbers, but you could still detect a hint of wildness in his eyes. "I agree with you that we might turn on each other, but first, let's collect Numbers. We might be able to have a mutual trust, at least for a while. If that stalker I noticed following you appears one more time, he'll be a souless husk for the rest of his life." Kuroi said, with a wily emphasis on 'souless'.

[Simping For Hina]

Not walking out too far, he was still able to ear the conversation going on as to which a person he did not talk to earlier was talking about being a hunter. He owned both a chaos and a number, so he had to be on the level of high rankings in dueling. But he couldn't just duel right here. He wasn't neeeded when it comes to dueling, only obtaining the numbers, which he had many ideas and ways to do so.

"You know, talking about numbers in the open like you did will only cause you problems, don't do it again. Trust me, trouble is coming your way as we speak. i should know. Well, I shall be on my way, if you don't mind!" He said.

[evilfusion]

"A...Chaos Number?" Natalie repeated, peering at Kuroi uncertainly. "I've heard of no such thing." [i]Wonderful, not only does this guy appear to be a psychopath, but my understanding of Numbers is already more incomplete than I imagined.[/i]

"Hm, and precisely how would you propose a mutual trust?" she asked quietly. "If the logical route is eventually turning on one another, what purpose would it serve to have an agreement in the first place?"

[Astolfo]

"To defeat useless Guardians. Pah! We should liberate the Numbers and until we collect all 100, both normal and Chaos, it would be more beneficial to help each other, instead of clawing at each other's throats. We're Hunters, the stupid Guardians are prey." Kuroi said with a feral grin. "Oh, and what's that stalker idiot doing? If he's spying, it'll be his last mission."

[Simping For Hina]

"I am nothing more than just giving you guys information. Hunters only think about catching the numbers, but there are people who plan on hunting the hunters. I shall be off now, no harm done. See you guys around school!" he said easily than faded into a laugh. He now proceeded to go into the direction of where the HQ was. He was walking at a slow pace as if trying to still hear the conversation, but no even try to attempt to bother them this time since he had no point in doing so. Kyokari had given up enough information about everything and knew that questions would be asked as to who he actually was.

[DeckShuffler711]

Putting his hands behind his head, Setsuna nodded at Souta. Jumping up, he followed his friend closely. That girl was clearly psychotic, but he wasn't going to get in the way of Kai's revenge, no matter how much he wanted to put her in her place. "Think we can head to a card shop? I wanna try and get some more Mech cards," He asked as he walked next to Souta. He wanted to help get his only friend's mind off of what had happened. He needed to get his mind off of it as well.

Despite owning a number monster himself, he knew almost nothing about them. All he knew was that the one guy who showed up seemed to know a tad more about them and Natalie knew a hell of a lot more about them. He never wanted to depend on it, despite how useful it really was to his strategy. "So, what should we go do?" He asked as his arms dropped to his side.

[CommanderVolt]

Kaminari had finally come back around to where the duel was once taking place. Of course by now, everyone had left so there was nothing to see there. Kaminari would subtly stare at the very spot where Natalie and Kai dueled, lost in thoughts for a few moments, his silence broke with a heavy sigh. Shoving his hands into his pockets he would start his way down to leave. "[i]I'll just walk home i suppose..."[/i] He thought, as he exited the school premises where buses were getting ready to leave and parents of many students were taking their children. Kaminari watched and reminisced about his younger years but he would shake his head at the thought and started to head down the side-walk.